The current state of democracy in South Africa
15 September 2022
Fifteen years ago, the United Nations General Assembly declared the 15th of September as the International Day of Democracy. The date aims to encourage governments and civil societies around the world to actively promote and protect the principles of democracy. It also acts as a regular reminder for governments and civil society to assess the state of democracy in their own countries in order to identify early warning signs of any erosion or infringement of democratic rights and, if need be, to take adequate corrective measures.
Assessing the state of democracy in South Africa is not as easy a task as it may seem, since there may be a significant divergence between the formal requirements for democracy and the actual quality of democracy as it is experienced by the people. The formal requirements include regular free and fair elections, public consultation, the assurance of basic human rights and liberties, and the separation of powers.
The good news is that South Africa ticks all the boxes when it comes to the formal requirements for democracy. It is regularly rated as a free democracy by reputable organisations, such as Freedom House, Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Economist Intelligence Unit. This is certainly something to be proud of and celebrate.
However, democracy can also be defined by its quality - that is, by the degree to which it actually serves the will of the people. The South African people have expressed their will in six free and fair elections since 1994. However, after 28 years it is becoming increasingly clear to many voters that our democracy has failed to meet the expectations that have been generated in election after election. Voter turnout has plummeted from 86.7% in 1994 to only 65.9% in the 2019 national elections. When taking into account the number of South Africans who were eligible to vote but did not register, the figure drops even lower and becomes more worrying.